Paramount cash flow higher

oil & gaS • A 20-per-cent leap in production to 22,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day helped Paramount Resources Ltd. post gains in cash flow in the first quarter of 2013.

The Calgary-based company noted after markets closed Tuesday net income of $400,000, down from $124 million in the first quarter of 2012, but cash flow of $16.6 million, up 30 per cent over $12.8 million.

Average realized prices slipped to $30.16 per barrel from $31.95 per barrel last year. Paramount reported record sales of 23,600 boe/d in March, the highest since the spin-out of Trilogy Energy Corp. in 2005, despite 800 boe/d of property dispositions and 2,000 boe/d of third-party disruptions. The company reported its 200 million cubic feet per day deep cut gas plant at Musreau is on schedule, with commissioning near the end of the third quarter of 2013. It said it has an inventory of 45 (35.5 net) Alberta Kaybob Deep Basin wells awaiting startup.

Paramount reported selling its remaining American properties for $22 million US and properties in the Bistcho area of Alberta and the Cameron Hills area of the Northwest Territories for $9.1 million in the first quarter.